Oct. 29, 2018, 4:45 p.m.

Rapper 2 Chainz attends the launch party for Gas, his fuel-themed cannabis line now available in flower and pre-rolled joints. (Adam Tschorn / Los Angeles Times)

Rolling into the Friday launch party for his new cannabis brand Gas, the first thing Grammy-winning rapper 2 Chainz did was brandish a joint in one hand and a smartphone in the other to record the rows of boldly packaged cannabis flower and pre-rolled joints in a video to share with his 5.7 million Instagram followers. The second thing he did was stand back and take in the moment.

“I can’t believe it, that’s why I was over here just trying to take it all in,” 2 Chainz said about seeing all the green, yellow and black plastic pouches filled with marijuana, and a jerrycan converted into a display tray overflowing with green buds. “I’ve been told for over a year that we were doing this line, so now I’m just trying to live in the moment. I don’t do that a lot.”

The launch party took place at the Mid-Wilshire offices of Green Street Agency, a cannabis-focused branding and licensing company that is one of the rapper’s two Southern California partners in the venture. The other is L.A.-based Mazel Management Group (owners of the Westside Station dispensary in Van Nuys). Before joining the throng of well-wishers, industry friends and employees dressed in logo-emblazoned overalls, 2 Chainz (born Tauheed Epps), chatted with the Los Angeles Times’ Rolling Paper about his new project, how cannabis branding is like music and what took so long for the project to come to fruition. (Hint: There was lots of taste-testing).

Oct. 23, 2018, 9:59 a.m.

Cities and law enforcement leaders say a state proposal to allow pot delivery to homes would increase crime. (Mathew Sumner / Associated Press)

Despite objections from cities and police chiefs, state officials on Friday declined to drop a proposal allowing marijuana firms to deliver to homes everywhere in California, including in areas that have banned pot shops.

The proposed rule, which was made public in July, was opposed by the League of California Cities, which represents the state’s 482 municipalities, and the California Police Chiefs Assn., which said it would jeopardize public safety.

But the state Bureau of Cannabis Control announced Friday that it is moving forward with the proposed rule after a series of public hearings and after weighing hundreds of comments from residents and interested parties.

Oct. 23, 2018, 9:51 a.m.

Commercial flights can be so stressful — cramped seats, delays, turbulence, loud seatmates — that more than 60% of travelers in a recent survey said they down a drink or two before heading to the airport.

Oct. 20, 2018, 1:00 p.m.

Cannabis-related companies will be front and center in Costa Mesa again Monday, when city planning commissioners will consider four applications for proposed marijuana manufacturing and distribution facilities.

Oct. 16, 2018, 11:20 a.m.

Bloom Farms' Pineapple Single Origin vape cartridge is a World Food Day exclusive that will be available only in October. (Bloom Farms)

In recognition of the United Nations’ designation of Oct. 16 as World Food Day 2018, Oakland-based cannabis company Bloom Farms is doubling its usual meal-donation-per-sale for purchase made through the Eaze delivery service (which is doing its part by offering a day-long 20% discount on all Bloom Farms products) as well as participating dispensaries statewide (including Buds & Roses, Urban Treez and Green Dot locally).

The company says that since 2014 it has donated about 1.4 million meals to food banks statewide through its one-for-one program, with a goal of donating 5 million meals. World Harvest Food Bank in Los Angeles and the San Diego Food Bank are among the SoCal beneficiaries of the Bloom Farm donations.

Although the double-down on meal donations lasts only one day, Bloom Farms has a couple of slightly less time-sensitive promotions to raise awareness and drive donations in furtherance of the U.N.’s mission of a zero-hunger world by 2030.

Oct. 16, 2018, 10:09 a.m.

Now a handful of years into retirement from more than a decade of junior and pro hockey, former enforcer Riley Cote is a proponent of cannabis and its oils as an alternative to more addictive drugs commonly used by athletes to play through pain. Marijuana can be detected in a person's system for more than 30 days, is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency without a specific therapeutic use exemption and is illegal in much of the United States.